Bobcats' DeSagana Diop out for year with Achilles

Charlotte Bobcats center DeSagana Diop will miss the rest of the season with a ruptured right Achilles tendon. Posted by Ben Golliver.

Charlotte Bobcats center DeSagana Diop will miss the rest of the 2010-2011 NBA season after an MRI confirmed a rupture of his right Achilles tendon, the team announced on Monday.

Charlotte Bobcats center DeSagana Diop will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2010-11 season after a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) confirmed a rupture of his right Achilles tendon. Diop suffered the injury during the second quarter of Friday’s game against Golden State.

The 7-0 Diop, who was acquired by the Bobcats via trade on Jan. 16, 2009, has appeared in 552 career NBA games spread between Cleveland, New Jersey, Dallas and Charlotte. He has career averages of 2.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks, while shooting .433 from the field. This season, he appeared in 16 games with averages of 1.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 11.3 minutes.

Diop, despite standing seven feet tall and being drafted in the lottery, isn't very good at basketball. He's played sparingly for the Bobcats this season, averaging 1.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and .9 blocks in 11.3 minutes in 16 appearances, all off the bench.

Diop is in his 10th season as a pro, and his current contract runs through the 2012-2013 season. He makes $6.5 million this season and will be paid $6.9 million next year and $7.3 million in the final year of his deal.

The Bobcats have found themselves in a number of trade rumors this year (here, here and here), and Charlotte surely wouldn't have minded moving Diop's contract in a larger trade. Indeed, his name was brought up in recent rumored trades involving Los Angeles Clippers point guard Baron Davis and Portland Trail Blazers point guard Andre Miller.

This injury news makes that trade possibility a bit more remote, although not impossible, because most teams would have traded for him as a salary number rather than as a player.